Google Chrome to start blocking intrusive ads worldwide

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Starting on July 9, "Chrome will expand its user protections and stop showing all ads on sites in any country that repeatedly display[s] … disruptive ads," Chrome Senior Director of Product Ben Galbraith wrote in a Wednesday blog post.

Google first launched this feature in February, but only in North America and Europe. The filter removes only the most intrusive, annoying types of ads that violate the Coalition for Better Ads' standards, as outlined in the image below. That includes pop-up ads, full-page prestitial ads with countdown timers that block you from seeing content on the page for a certain amount of time, auto-play videos ads with sound, and large sticky ads that stay on the page even when you scroll, among others.

Beginning today, website owners in areas outside North America and Europe can use Google's Ad Experience Report tool to check whether they have any unacceptable ads on their sites.

"Our ultimate goal is not to filter ads, but to build a better web for everyone, everywhere," Galbraith wrote. He added that fewer than 1 percent of the millions of sites reviewed to date have had their ads removed. As of the start of this year, two-thirds of publishers who at one time did not comply with the industry-developed standards now do.

"Chrome's enforcement of the Coalition's standards has inspired many website owners to improve the advertising experience on their sites in a way that benefits users," Galbraith wrote.\